Japan passes law to lower voting age to 18 from 20 years

Japan has passed a law lower the voting age to 18 years from its current 20 years.

The bill in this regard to revise the public office election law was passed by the upper house after being approved in the lower chamber.

With passing of this law, 2.4 million of its population from 18 and 19-year-olds age group will extend the franchise in future elections. This move also has brought Japan in line with other developed countries in terms of voting age.

Last time, Japan had lowered the voting age from 25 to 20 years in 1945 after its surrender in World War II.

Population structure of Japan

At present, around a quarter i.e. 26 percent of Japan’s 127-million population is aged 65 or over indicating population ageing with negative growth rate. Japan is in last i.e. third stage of demographic transition as a result of low birth rates and death deaths. The age structure of Japan is an inverted age pyramid representing large population of elders.

Some facts: Presently, 170 nations in the world have voting age of 18 years. In case of India, the voting age was lowered to 18 years by the Constitution (Sixty-first Amendment) Act, 1988.